2017 Virtual Public Safety Test Environment Challenge

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The winners of the Virtual Public Safety Test Environment Challenge solved the problem to design a physical measurement environment that uses immersive virtual reality tools for testing new first responder technologies.

The Virtual Public Safety Test Environment Challenge, sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Public Safety Innovation Accelerator, crowdsourced ideas and designs for measurement environments that use immersive virtual reality tools in conjunction with physical spaces to simulate first responder scenarios for accurate and repeatable testing of new first responder interfaces and technologies. The Challenge contestants were provided with in-depth descriptions of tasks performed by first responders in a variety of situations. The solution would depict actions that a first responder would perform and the situation they would encounter. This challenge focused on the measurement environment of testing versus the training.

PSCR recognizes the winners of this Challenge for demonstrating diversity and a breadth of viable and creative solutions to design a measurement environment for virtual and immersive tools and software for public safety.

1st Place - $20,000 Prize
NextGen Interactions, LLC won first place for FirstSimVR: Measuring Future Tools Using Today's VR, a reconfigurable VR platform for evaluating and refining future technologies to be used for different first-responder scenarios.

2nd Place - $12,000 Prize
Design Interactive Inc. received second place for their idea for a Reconfigurable Vehicle Training System, a training system including a virtually reconfigurable vehicle and physical mannequin with environmental factors such as smell, weather, etc.

4th Place - $5,000 Prize
Cosumnes Community Services District won fourth for their idea for an Augmented Reality Emergency Response System, a multi-sensor based, indoor positioning technology to simulate a first responder emergency situation through a wearable SMART device.

Crowd Voting - $5,000 Prize
Variable Labs won the online voting for their submission, The Future is Hidden in the Successes of the Past, a system which leverages interoperable standards to test educational curricula with a wide variety of stakeholders.

Honorable Mention
MedCognition received the honorable mention award for PerSim: Realistic, Portable, Low Cost Simulation, PerSim trains first responders using augmented reality simulation, for a more realistic and portable solution.